Make Me Yours

That was his only consolation – the fact that she found him equally attractive. He wasn’t a vain man, nor was he arrogant as he led many to believe. However, he knew that he was very good looking. It was simply human to feel good about the fact that he affected her the same way she affected him, just not enough to have made her lose.

She was a good player; he would give her that, but not entirely a great one. He had played against better, and had won. But she had luck on her side. It was how she had won that game, and all the other games from the nights before. After he had watched her go, he had retired to the lounge for some drinks. That was where he had met Su.

A few drinks were all Xen had needed to make him act against his better judgement. Well, if he was being sincere, the s*x had been great. However, that was over now.

Picking up the landline again, he began to dial back the number that had called. He sighed when the other end finally picked up.

“Hello, Mr Li?”

“Mrs Chan, good day. It’s quite lovely to finally hear from you.”

Noting the sarcasm in his voice, the woman on the other head replied in the same vein.

“I could say the same for you. I almost worried that you had died in your sleep, when you would not pick up any of your lines.”

“My lines?” He had only heard the hotel’s ring.

“Where is your mind at? You think I would call the hotel line first if I had to get across to you? I have called your business and your personal line, before calling this. I had to call your Mr Sung afterwards. He was the one who told me you had a long night, and was probably sleeping in.”

Mr Sung was his P.A and Mrs Chan was the woman helping them with the Colorado move.

Her tone suggested that she knew exactly what had made his night long. Nevertheless, he was a thirty-eight-year-old man and there was no point trying to shame him for being s*xually active.

“I had both phones put on silent so I wouldn’t be disturbed. I was in the shower when you called earlier.”

She snorted. “Hmm. Some long shower that was. Well, I was calling to tell you that I have good news.”

He ignored her snort, more interested in the good news.

“We can finally get the property?”

“No. Not just yet, but we are close. We’ve managed to trace down the recent owner of said property. Apparently, its exchanged ownership a few times in the last three months, which is why we had trouble narrowing down who to go to. It appears that a certain St Martins’ Properties recently acquired it. The good news is that they are real estate brokers and are very much interested in selling it to the highest bidder. I suggest you come down here as soon as you can, so that we may set a meeting with whoever the CEO of this company is. I have no doubt that they already have potential buyers, but we are at an advantage because we have the money to bid more, and the power to scare other bidders off.”

“Not to mention I want it badly, more than any of them. How soon can we set this meeting up?” He liked that Mrs Chan thought like him. The competitive CEO in him had come out to play, and while he played fair – most times, he didn’t play easy.

“As soon as we get her secretary to return our calls. It would seem that whoever it is also had a long night and decided to sleep in.”

Rolling his eyes, he ignored her once more and replied instead, “I shall be in Colorado by nightfall. Thank you very much for keeping me updated. Do have a lovely day, Aunt Lu.” Yes, she was his aunt; his mother’s cousin, more precisely. It was why she spoke so informally with him and he often enjoyed conversations like this with her.

He heard the smile in her voice as she replied, “You too, my boy.”

He waited until the beep sounded, signaling the end of the call, before placing the phone back.

This was good news indeed. If he had to be in Colorado tonight, it meant that he had to visit the company today, put things in order, speak to his mother and Yuri and ensure all was well, before hopping on that flight.

Finding his phone, he placed a call across to Sung and informed him of the new development.

In no time, he was impeccably dressed in his black suit, and ready to go.

*****

“Cake”

“Check.”

“Booze.”

“Check.”

“Turkey wings.”

“Check.”

“Venue?”

“Check.”

“Fine male strippers…”

Zoey was ready to say check, but stopped herself as she heard that. She turned to Carrie, her bewilderment obvious.

“Since when did you become so man crazy?”

Carrie laughed sheepishly and threw her arms around Zoey as they found their way to the elevator.

“She always gets man crazy on these trips. It’s like at some point, she finally remembers that she no longer has to be prudent Miss Hawkins.” Jenny answered, ending in that sing-song voice the children always addressed Carrie with.

“True that. I mean, I love the children, but I’m so glad summer is just beginning. I’m headed straight to Bali once we return to Colorado. I think I’ve finally saved up enough for it, and I hear they have fine men. What do you say? The summer is still young; let’s all go together.”

“Can’t. Going to Venice with the family. It’s my aunt’s wedding in two weeks.” Jenny explained.

“And I promised my sister I’d be her travel partner for Santorini.” Mariah piped in.

Hearing her friends speak this way made her smile. Jenny was the rich kid amongst them. She came from a long line of Italian money. The rest of them had had to work their asses off, and it was finally paying off. Exotic vacations… talk about living the dream.